


Pink and Black

by SarIIon



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: (not between the two of them), Blood, Caretaking, Edited, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Human AU, Human Monokuma (Dangan Ronpa), Human Monomi, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Rated for dark themes, Self-Harm, they're both high school students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-07 16:30:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19088815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarIIon/pseuds/SarIIon
Summary: He's always picking fights and teasing her...but despite that, she almost prefers that side of him to this...This...This scares her.





	1. Textbooks and Complications

**Author's Note:**

> Obvious Trigger Warnings for Implied Rape, blood, self harm.

                “Ah, this is just great!” Monomi sighed to herself, surveying the contents of her backpack scattered across the bed in a haphazard jumble. It was Friday evening, and she _somehow_ had managed to forget her English textbook at school. Just thinking about all the homework she would miss if she didn’t retrieve it made her groan and spin around to race out the door.

                Normally, it wouldn’t be such a big problem… She huffed, sternly telling her legs to run faster. But since it was Friday, the teacher had assigned a lot of reading over the weekend. And it was already almost 8:00 pm: the last sports event tonight was a basketball game which would end soon. Once the game was over, the school would be locked for the rest of the weekend. _Faster, run faster!_

                _Turn right here…Straight down this street…Make a left…Past the school gates…Up the stairs…Fifteenth locker on the right-hand side of the hallway…Thank goodness, it was here!_

                Leaning against the row of metal lockers for support, she panted, trying to catch her breath. _Wow, she was definitely a little out of shape. She couldn’t remember the last time she had run like that. Maybe she should work out or something…_

                After recovering enough that the floor felt stable again beneath her feet, she hummed in thought, tucked the thick monstrosity of an English textbook under her arm, and headed downstairs. While she was here, she might as well check on the animals one more time before she left. Make sure they were all settled in and good on water and feed for the weekend, y’know?

                The small hutches for the rabbits and chickens the school kept were located in a small secluded alcove behind the main school building. Aside from her and whichever students were assigned to take care of the pens that week, not many kids visited the area because they complained it smelled bad. To be honest, it didn’t smell exactly great, but that didn’t deter her from visiting because the animals couldn’t control it after all, it wasn’t their fault. And, in addition to spending time with the animals, the alcove was a great place for her to sit quietly and think or do homework since no one else would bother her there. _Well…no one else except for one person who occasionally popped up to tease her…_

                Ah, it was getting a little dark… She hummed and turned on the flashlight feature of her phone before setting it to ‘gentle light’ as not to startle the animals. The streets were kind of dangerous at night especially in the areas around the alley ways; she would have to be careful on the walk back home. Hopefully, she could just do a quick check and be on her way…but…maybe it was a good thing she had come after all. The students assigned to feed the animals this week were two freshmen from the soccer team—the soccer team which just happened to have an away game today—it wouldn’t surprise her if they’d forgotten to find a substitute in all the excitement for the tournament.

                Soft sleeping forms of rabbits filled the small hutch, and just as always, she couldn’t resist leaning forward to give the closest animals small pats. They were just so soft! Humming, she set the textbook down in a safe spot as she refilled their water dishes and feed bowls. The food and water weren’t extremely low, so maybe the boys had come early in the morning before their bus left. _They really hadn't forgotten…_ The thought made her smile internally.

                _Next was the chicken coop._ She gently waved the flashlight on her phone around the inside nests as she opened the wooden door to the small shed-like building where they roosted.

                “EEEE!” Her eyes widened as the involuntary shriek of fear left her lips causing a couple of the closest sleeping chickens to rustle slightly in their nests. The phone slipped from her fingers, sending the light bouncing erratically across rafters and walls before it finally went out due to the phone landing flashlight side down on the ground.

_Why was *he* here?!_

                As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, and the moonlight streaming through the window of the coop eventually became enough for her to see, her mind raced, fighting the automatic instinct to run.

                Though the details weren’t exactly clear from where she was standing next to the door, on the far side of the coop, there was definitely a person sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. And it wasn’t just any person, oh no.

                The boy’s unique two-toned hair (white on one side and black on the other) left little room to guess who this unwelcome intruder was. _Monokuma…why was he here?!_ This was a potentially dangerous situation. In addition to his constant sharp tongued comments, he was known around school for picking a lot of fights with upperclassmen. It wasn’t uncommon for him to randomly wave pocket knives or lit matches in school (behavior which triggered 911 calls from students in class every time without fail). Somehow, he avoided punishment from teachers for piercing his right ear and getting his teeth filed into sharp points (both of which were against dress code).  And on top of everything, he seemed to have some kind of grudge against her in particular; he was always pulling her hair or pinching her cheeks or saying something about her being an awful little sister—the last point made no sense whatsoever because she was an only child.

                _Being alone with him so late in the night. It was dangerous. Every nerve in her body told her to run. To leave right now. To spin around and dash out the door._

_But her phone…_

                It was laying face up only a few feet away from where Monokuma's shadowy form was sitting, slouched against the wall. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t possibly leave her phone here. Who knows what he would do to it. And even if he decided it wasn’t worth his time to do anything, it was Friday…the school gates would be locked for the weekend. What if her parents called on Saturday or Sunday? She _really_ needed to retrieve the phone…

                Slowly inching closer, she cautiously closed the distance between them, avoiding looking in his direction. _Just one more step…Just one more step…Just one more step…_ Her legs tensed, ready to leap away and run at any sound indicating that he was going to attack, but he made no movements whatsoever as she got closer and closer.

                Trembling fingers scooped up the phone and immediately turned the flashlight off before shoving it in her pocket. Since her eyes had already adjusted to the dim light, there was no need for it right now. And she didn’t want to disturb Monokuma who appeared to be sleeping.

                _Wait…Sleeping? Out here? So late at night?_ That was something he’d never do. Even she knew that. His actions were always so careful and calculating; no words were ever wasted in achieving the reactions he wanted from people. For him to fall asleep somewhere so exposed…Somewhere he couldn’t be in control…It was strange to say the least. _Maybe he was awake after all?_

                Hesitantly, she slowly brought her eyes back up to glance in his direction and immediately blanched in shock. Blood…Blood was dripping down his face and onto his shirt. Although his uneven bangs covered most of his features the way he was sitting, she could clearly see massive purple-black bruises spreading across his jaw and neck. It looked as if someone—scratch that, *several* people—had viciously pummeled him into the ground. His uniform shirt was ripped and bloody…and…and… She flinched away in horror at the sight of his exposed lower half. Blood dribbled down, mixing red into the trails of fluid which covered his thighs.

                _This…This wasn’t something that should happen in real life._ She gagged, throwing up into a nearby waste bucket. _This…This couldn’t be happening. This had to be some sort of nightmare._ Viciously pinching her arm did nothing. _This…This wasn’t a dream…This wasn’t a dream…This wasn’t a dream._

                _This wasn’t a dream. So he needed help._

Grimacing, she chomped down on her bottom lip with as much force as possible. _Focus. She needed to focus._ _That was a lot of blood…He probably needed to go to the hospital…Was he even still alive? No…he wouldn’t bite it that easily…probably…_

 _Oh Heaven…_ She sent a silent prayer up to the sky before quickly shucking off her jacket and laying it over his lap.

                “Monokuma?” She knelt down in the straw beside him, gently tapping his shoulder in attempt to rouse him. Almost immediately he flinched back from her touch, eyes wide with frantic terror as they met hers. “It’s okay, it’s just me…Monomi…”

                Slowly recognition flashed across his face, and his glance shot down to catch sight of the colorful pink fabric of her favorite jacket draped across his legs. “…M-Monomi…?”

                “Yeah…it’s just me.” Now that she could see his visage completely, it was worse than she had initially thought. The bruises on his jaw extended upward, covering most of his face, a large gash on his forehead from where knuckles had split skin was bleeding profusely, and his left eye was swollen almost shut. Wincing, she made no move to touch him again, instead, digging in a pocket to pull out her phone. “Monokuma…You’re hurt…The cut on your head will probably need stitches…I’m going to call 911 okay? The ambulance will help you—”

                “No!” His sudden hoarse shout startled her out of her thoughts.

                “W-What? Monokuma…please…I…You’ve lost a lot of blood. An ambulance is the fastest way to get to a hospital—”

                “No…not going…to the hospital…”

                “B-But, you can’t be serious! You’re probably hallucinating from blood loss. This is urgent Monokuma, I-I’m going to call an ambulance here okay? They’ll help, I promise—”

                “No!” He glared at her the best he could with one functional eye, “If I refuse treatment…they’re not legally allowed to touch me…so…don’t call them Monomi…”

                He was right. As long as he was awake and conscious, the medics wouldn’t be able to treat him without his permission. Was he worried that they would see him…like this? “Monokuma…They’re probably used to dealing with things like…this…I’m sure—”

                “Monomi… P…Please…”

                She didn’t miss the way his voice cracked on that final word, how his eyes glazed over as he dropped his chin back onto his chest. The tough, snarky shell he wore every day to school seemed to have utterly broken away leaving him vulnerable and small as he huddled against the wall. _It…It was scary seeing him like this. It was scarier than anything._

                 Taking a deep breath, she stood up, slipping off her pink pleated skirt. It was a good thing she had the common sense to wear spandex shorts under her skirts. She wasn’t sure if the skirt would fit exactly over his waist since he was so much taller than her, but it was worth a shot especially since they didn’t really have any other options. “Alright, but you have to let me bandage you up at least. Can you stand?”

                He hesitated, clutching the fabric of her jacket with white knuckles as he shakily rose to his feet. Getting his permission, she gently lifted the skirt over his hips before pulling up the zipper. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but at least it offered some sort of protection. His fingers were stiff around the sleeve of her jacket, and she made no move to take it back, merely looping it around his waist to tie the sleeves together.

                “Where do you live?”

                “Across from the river...”

                “That’s halfway across town…I’m guessing a taxi is out of the question?” She hummed in thought, biting her lip at his small nod of confirmation, “W-We could go to my house if you want? It’s only a five minute walk from the school, and my parents are out of town this weekend.”

                Another slight nod.

                Glancing around the empty school yard, she offered him her arm, and he took it after a pause. The walk back was slow with her text book under one arm and Monokuma’s tall frame leaning heavily against her other side, but it was relatively uneventful. For once, she was glad it was so dark out. There probably wouldn’t be any people out on the streets this late who were sober enough to notice he was wearing a skirt or bleeding profusely.

 

                After doing her best to clumsily bandage up the wound on his forehead and wipe the drying blood from his face, she hummed in thought and turned on the bathtub faucet. Although she’d initially been extremely worried, the wound wasn’t very deep. Some vague memory from anatomy class reminded her that head wounds always bled a lot making them seem more serious than they usually were. _Why she didn’t remember that when she was freaking out earlier, she had no idea._

                But that didn’t mean there wasn’t possible internal damage. _He really should go to a hospital…_ She would try and bring up the suggestion again later, but something told her right now was not the time.

                “I’ll leave a change of clothes for you, so it might be good to wash off.” She gently motioned toward the warm water filling the tub before stepping out of the bathroom, closing the door softly behind her.

 

                It was the screams which woke her up.

                She startled, jerking up in bed at the raw wails which echoed through the empty house. _2 am._ The round alarm clock on her bedside table reported. _What was— Ah…She had almost forgotten…Monokuma was sleeping over tonight._

_Monokuma……_

_Oh._

                Biting her lip with trepidation, she rushed down the hallway, turning the doorknob to the guest bedroom…only to be met with resistance as the handle refused to turn. The cold metal merely rattled lightly in her hand as she applied more force. _Locked. He’d locked the door._

                Taking several deep breaths to calm herself the best she could with the nightmarish cries still pouring from beneath the door, she turned back to her bedroom to snatch a few bobby pins off her dresser. It definitely was possible to unlock the bedroom door this way, she knew from experience, she just needed steady hands. She just needed to calm down. _Easier said than done._

                Nevertheless, she eventually managed to hit the correct spot, disarming the locking mechanism with a slight click. Gently pushing open the door, she stepped inside.

                The bobby pins in her hand immediately dropped to the carpet without a sound.

                Red.

                Red.

                The sheets were speckled with the red which ran down his legs and arms in thick trails.

                The screaming probably was still happening, but all she could hear was the frantic pounding of her heart threatening to tear its way out of her eardrums.

                Red.

                Red.

                The undersides of his fingernails were crusted with the red which his own digits had carved into his skin with vicious strength.

                “Mono…kuma…?” Her voice was barely a hoarse whisper over his repeated shrieks. There was no possible way he could’ve heard her.

 _This wasn’t something she could handle._ The realization hit her like a truck, knocking the breath from her lungs. How naïve she’d been to think somehow it would all be okay if she did her best. He needed help. He needed real help. She should’ve called someone…someone…someone else who could actually help. She couldn’t think of anyone, but there had to be someone. There had to be someone. There had to be someone.

_If he refuses care. There is nothing medics can do for him._

_Clearly he has an altered mental status! He’s probably delirious from blood loss.That should override all protocol! They have to help him. They have to! They have to!_

_Did he look altered when he was talking to you earlier? Monomi…you know it’s not really a physical issue…The types of people he needs right now…they’re off work even if he would consent to see them…_

_Shut up! Shut up!_ She screamed against the small voice of reason in her head. _She didn’t want to hear that. She didn’t want to hear that!_

                Helplessly, she watched with saucer eyes as he dragged his nails across his pale skin again, and again, and again, and again, and—

                “ENOUGH! STOP!” Someone was screaming, pinning his wrists to the bed in order to halt the self destructive actions… _Ah…_ Monomi blinked in realization _…It was her._

                She was shouting at him. She was struggling to hold down his blood stained hands as his body desperately writhed underneath her. She was doing this. _This was the wrong thing to do. This was definitely the wrong thing to do. Especially after…This was wrong. This was so wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong._

                But she couldn’t think of anything else. Anything else she could possibly do in that moment to stop him. She wasn’t smart or strategic like him. She could never find the right path, the exact way to get anyone to go along with what she wanted. She wasn’t like him. She couldn’t see the hundreds of better paths of action in this scenario. So even if this was wrong, even if doing this would make him scared of her forever, this was the only way she could think of to make him stop. So she would deal with the consequences later.

                Or she would deal with them right now.

                Her racing mind barely registered the pain as he kicked her viciously in the stomach, sending her flying off the bed to crash into the hard, unforgiving ground.

                “Get away from me! Get away!”

                She didn’t have the chance to catch her breath before he was flying at her. Pain flashed across her face as his fist connected with it…Then…hot. Her whole head felt hot and numb. Bringing her hand up to her nose, she blinked as it came away covered in blood.

_Ah…She probably deserved that didn’t she?_

                His eyes weren’t angry as he backed away, returning to the safety of the bed. They just looked hollow and dull. As if he wasn’t completely there, as if he wasn’t completely awake.

                “I’m sorry _…_ ” Without meeting his eyes again, she padded out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her the best she could while cupping one hand over her nose to prevent blood from dripping all over the carpet.

 

                The bathroom sink was a disaster by the time she managed to stop the nosebleed. Sighing heavily, she did her best to flush red down the drain before opening the medicine cabinet to grab some bandages. If she left them in front of his door, maybe when he woke up he would use them…

_First Aid kit…middle shelf, just like always, located above the bottle of Dad’s—_

                The thought skidded to an abrupt stop as she stared with growing panic at the empty space in the row of harmless cough syrups and fever reducers. _Where was…_

                Backing away slowly from the sink out of sheer reflexive fear, she startled as her foot sent something skittering across the tile floor. That something was an empty orange plastic container.  Trembling fingers picked up the pill bottle off the floor, scanning over the label as if reading something she didn’t already know by heart.

                The long, multisyllable name of the medication meant nothing to her, but she knew what it meant at least, in a general way. Since Dad was prone to bloodclots, he took blood thinners. It wasn’t anything really serious, mainly a precaution after his knee surgery last year. In fact, it was the only prescription medication in their house since they were pretty healthy.

               _How many capsules were in this bottle before they left on their business trip?_ Her mind raced, struggling in attempt to recall fuzzy memories _. Dad said something about needing to refill his prescription soon not too long ago…And he definitely took a couple pills on the trip with him…Which meant the bottle had been nearing empty by the time Monokuma had opened it… Thank goodness._  She allowed herself a small sigh of relief before freezing in cold realization. _Wait…blood thinners?_

                Throwing all caution to the wind, she grabbed the first aid kit and sprinted up the stairs with panicked energy. Whether or not he was angry or still in some nightmare induced haze, it didn’t matter anymore. Blood thinners were anticoagulants. While she wasn’t any kind of nurse or doctor, basic anatomy class was enough to pound the seriousness of the situation into her heart.  _Anticoagulants …_ If the body wasn’t able to stop the bleeding naturally by forming blood clots and scabs, any small cut could be potentially fatal…… _And with the wounds he had right now…_

                Flinging open the door, she quickly approached the bed, peeling back the bloodied sheets to uncover his curled up form. _Asleep? Asleep. At least he wouldn’t punch her again while she did this…hopefully. Wait…had he passed out due to exhaustion or blood loss?_

 _Oh Heavens…Don’t let it be the latter…_ She moaned internally, quickly throwing together a stressed prayer before turning her attention to his wounds.

                As horrific as the gashes had looked earlier, a bit of tension left her shoulders as she did her best to apply the strange granular stuff known as ‘First-Aid Hemostat’ to the scratches. Due to his nails being relatively short, the long furrows weren’t that deep in actuality. If she could manage to stop the bleeding with synthetic clotting agents, he would probably be okay.

 

                Sighing in relief, she surveyed her work with a slight touch of pride. The hemostats had really helped, closing up the wounds enough that she could place gauze pads over the scratches and secure them in place with cloth roller bandages. She’d done her best to clean the dried blood from his hands and fingers and skin, and now, all that was left to deal with was the sheets.

                Luckily the blankets and comforter had caught most of the blood, and none of it had seeped into the mattress. Gently, she nudged and wiggled the stained bedding from under him, doing her best not to jostle him too much as she unfurled clean sheets over the bed. There was no way she could lift him or carry him anywhere, so this would have to do for now. Bringing the blood spattered linens downstairs to the laundry room, she left them soaking in a tub of cold water. For once in her life, she was kind of glad she woke up in a pool of her own blood almost monthly. The experience definitely made cleaning out blood stains less daunting. _Great…You’re thinking like a serial killer right now Monomi…That’s a societal no-no._

_Maybe she should grab an ice pack for his head? His face was still pretty swollen, and it would probably help to ice it while he was asleep…_

                By the time she returned to the guest bedroom to check on him again, he was already a writhing mess. Sweat dripped down his flushed face as he moaned in his sleep, fists balled up in the cotton sheets. As she watched, his brow furrowed, breathing growing increasingly erratic as small pleas wisped up from parted lips: “No…stop…please………stop…”

                Frowning, she bit her lip in panic. _Another nightmare?_ If he kept moving around like this, he was definitely going to reopen his wounds since the blood thinners were still in his system.

                “Monokuma?” She whispered carefully, trying her best not to startle him. “Monokuma? Wake up…Wake up…” At the lack of response, she hesitated slightly before setting a light hand on his shoulder to give him a small shake. “Monokuma—”

                “No!” He shot up with a start causing her to squeak in surprise and flinch backwards. Dark eyes wide with terror emphasized dilated pupils as he seemed to stare through her. “No…Huff…I…I…Monomi? What…?” He broke off with confusion, blinking in recognition at her round face peering up at him from the ground.

                “I-It was just a dream…just another dream…” She croaked, wetting dry lips.

                “I see…”

                “Please don’t move around too much…You’ll reopen your wounds.”

                His eyes flickered in surprise over the linen bandages covering his arms and legs before noting the small mountain of bandage wrappers on the ground beside the bed next to an open first aid kit. “Another? Well I take it the first one was unbearably stereotypical as well? Did I wake you up to a despair filled sight? Puhuhu…”

                The brief flash of shock and guilt in her eyes before she quickly busied herself with cleaning up bandage scraps confirmed his suspicions. Grimacing against the pain in his limbs which he was starting to feel, he did his best to follow instructions and stay still. “Have any pain killers?”

                “I-I don’t think that’s a good idea…They might react negatively with…” She trailed off, biting her lip as she held a small ice pack toward him. “Here…I heard this can help with grounding yourself after a dream…” It wasn’t exactly the reason she had brought it upstairs, but it would serve a purpose nevertheless.

 _Ah…It was cold._ He mused, lightly placing his palm over the pack. _React negatively with what? Something in his system most likely. He didn’t take any medications or drugs…Yet she seemed very certain that he had some sort of potentially dangerous medication in his system. He could rule out the possibility of drugs since he was pretty sure she wasn’t the type to have any in her house. Perhaps some sort of prescription medication? What had he done while he was sleeping?_ There was an entire section of time where his memories were completely blank. While Monomi was as easy to read as an open book, it was extremely frustrating not remembering the events himself.

                “I…I’ll be in my room if you need me, Monokuma…Please, get some sleep…”

                Her soft words pulled him out of his thoughts, and before he could completely analyze the situation, his hand was grabbing the tail of her shirt in a silent plea.

                “M-Monokuma?”

                “Humans are natural born cowards…” He blinked in surprise at his own actions, quickly releasing his grip.

                Wadding up the remaining bandage wrappers in her hand, she gently turned to meet his dark eyes with her own. “You’re in my English class right? Have you done this weekend’s assigned reading yet?……Okay, I haven’t either. Would you…mind if I read it to you?”

                “Huh?”

                “W-Well, reading passages out loud really helps me stay focused…and I thought maybe hearing it would help you avoid the teacher’s wrath…you know…since you never do your readings?”

                Those statements were both lies…and they both knew it. No one ever read the textbook sections out loud because they were so long, and even though Monokuma never did any of his assignments or homework, he could always answer any question the teacher threw at him if he wanted to (emphasis on 'if').

                Despite that, he nodded slightly in response, smiling a little bit as Monomi bounced back into the room carrying the thick textbook like a trophy. She settled down on the carpet beside the bed, leaning against the side of the mattress as he draped an arm lazily over the edge. The soft words read by dim lamplight probably didn’t register in either of their heads, but the lull of her speech, complete with its minute fluctuations in tone and volume, was enough to lure him back to an exhausted slumber.

                Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Monomi kept reading, occasionally leaning over to gently shake the taller boy from dreams which made his body twitch in shock and horror. It would take a little while for him to recognize the sound of her voice again, but when he did, he always rested back slowly into the sheets, allowing himself to return to a worn-out repose.

                Her voice would probably be nonexistent tomorrow, but that was okay.

                Because right now, this was something she could do to help. Something she could do to help him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -*Sigh* Was this too OOC? Idk, I kinda like the Human AU though. 
> 
> -Why would she drop everything to help someone who teases her? 1) It's a human instinct 2) It's a Monomi instinct  
> 


	2. Respite

                He woke up to the muffled sounds of silverware clinking from the floor below. _The room around him seemed so strange and unfamiliar…Where was he?_

                Pain flashed down his arms and legs as he made a move to slide out from beneath the covers, freezing him in his tracks. _Bandages…_ The sight of linen dressings brought memories of the night before rushing back as if a dam had broken.

                After school on Friday he’d— _no. N.O._ He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about it right now, or ever.

                When he’d opened his eyes, her pale face almost looked like that of an angel. He thought for an instant maybe he had died. But no, he would never see anything other than the demons of hell after he passed on. This world showed no mercy. Maybe it would’ve been better if he had died…It had hurt…It had hurt so much— _stop. Stop thinking about it._

                _Ah._ He realized he did know where he was. This was the spare bedroom in her house. Monomi’s house. She had brought him here after she’d found him. Most of the night after that was fuzzy in his memories, but at some point, he knew he’d seen a horrified expression across her face. Her wide, shocked eyes, trembling shoulders, lips parted in fear, brows twisted with anxiety—the image was burned into his mind. Burned into his mind along with the wild sneers on their faces, the demented gleam in their eyes, the strength pulsing through their hands as they held him down, preventing him from escaping— _NO. STOP_.

                _He should leave, right now._ Hissing against the pain, he slowly peeled back the blankets and stood up—an action he instantly regretted as a wave of dizziness almost dropped him to the ground. That’s right…he’d almost forgotten how they’d smashed his face into the wall over and over and over and over… _Probability of a concussion?_ Statistically it was high, but despite the pounding in his head, his thoughts were still relatively clear which was a good sign (at least, that’s what he told himself). If only…If only his arms and legs and head were the only body parts which hurt…If only they had stopped there…stopped there…stopped there—

                Weak knees buckled under him as he collapsed into the carpet with a dull thud. Stark white flooded his vision despite his best efforts to breathe, and he lay there on the ground, chest heaving for air despite not moving more than four feet from the bed. Shrill ringing echoed through his ears drowning out any ambient sounds in the room, and in an instant, he was prisoner to the natural bodily response to shock.

                Pros: It left no room to think any unwanted thoughts.

                Cons: He didn’t notice her enter the room until she was peering anxiously into his eyes, kneeling on the ground beside him and gently shaking his shoulder.

                “M-Monokuma?…Monokuma?”

                Something cold pressed against his forehead sending numbing icy fingers spreading across his face. _An ice pack?_ It helped. Even if it was just some sort of placebo, the cooling sensation was an anchoring point he could focus upon as he did his best to drag his mind back to a solid state. Gradually his vision returned and the ringing faded enough that he could make out her words.

                “Monokuma? What’s wrong? I…Are you sure you don’t want me to call an ambulance?”

                “Don’t. Call.” Clenching his jaw against the pain, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position before flashing her a practiced lazy grin. “Morning Monomi, did you sleep well last night?”

                A reflexive “Yeah” left her mouth before she blinked in surprise at the lie and frowned slightly. He was clearly changing the topic—she probably looked awful considering she hadn’t slept more than 60 minutes in the last 24 hours.

                “That’s good,” He smiled, gesturing toward the apron tied around her waist, “Huh? Did you make breakfast for little old me?”

                Her eyes flitted over his face and body, taking in the way he was breathing heavily, the way his face was slightly flushed, the way his fingers stiffly clutched the ice pack he’d taken off from his forehead. But none of the bandages had come undone and he wasn’t bleeding anywhere, so she took a deep breath and let him lead the conversation. “Yeah, I actually came to wake you up for breakfast. Can…Can you walk? If not, I can bring the food up here.”

                “Of course I can walk.” He snapped in annoyance before making another attempt to stand—another attempt which almost ended in disaster as the pain in his head resurfaced, pounding his skull like a mallet. _Everything hurt._ His legs and knees felt like shapeless rubber as he tried to take a step, almost tripping on carpet. _Walk. Walk now_. Gritting his teeth, he forced his body to take another step. And then he was falling. The carpet rising up to meet him blurred in his vision, and he shut his eyes, bracing for impact.

                Instead of the ground, he collided into something soft, something human, as Monomi did her best to catch him. His weight and tall frame almost made her topple as they smashed against her chest, but she tensed her legs to remain in standing position as he leaned heavily against her. “Monokuma…It’s okay, really, I can bring the food up here. My parents don’t mind if we eat upstairs.”

                “I…Huff…want to go downstairs…Huff…”

                She paused, partially waiting for him to catch his breath and partially attempting to sort some reason into the panicked jumble of thoughts in her mind. _What if he falls down the stairs? I’m not that strong…I wouldn’t be able to catch him. But he said he wants to go downstairs. It *would* be easier for medics to get him if he ends up passing out and I have to call 911…_

                “Okay, but I’m helping you.” Ignoring the slight frown of his mouth as he slowly pushed himself back onto his own feet, she offered him her arm. “If you fall down the stairs, I’ll really have to call an ambulance okay? So just…let me help you.”

                After a moment of hesitation, he lightly looped his arm through hers—a gentle grasp which immediately transformed into a vice grip as he took another step toward the door. The journey downstairs was a slow, painstaking process as they gradually inched through the hallway and down the stairs, occasionally taking rest breaks so he could catch his breath; and by the time he sank into a chair at the kitchen table, he was more than exhausted. Hissing several curse words under his breath, he pressed a palm to the back of his neck in attempt to stop the pounding pain shooting up into his head.

                Monomi opened the freezer, handing him another ice pack before turning to grab plates off the counter. Breakfast was really, really simple since she was anything but a chef: avocado toast drizzled with a little salt and pepper accompanied a large plate of sliced fruits and two tall glasses of orange juice. _Hopefully it was acceptable…_

                “Wow, even your taste in breakfast foods is lame.” He smirked slightly at the sight of the toast, “That’s out of trend y’know?”

                “It doesn’t matter, it tastes good and it’s healthy!” Monomi flushed slightly, taking off her apron to join him at the table. “Plus…I didn’t have much else I could make…I’m not supposed to use the stove when they’re not home.”

                “And you actually listen to them? What are you, a five year old?”

                “Hey! You’re like the kind of unreasonableness! Since I made this for you, just eat it!” She groaned, setting her head in her arms, “What do *you* usually eat for breakfast then?”

                “I usually don’t eat breakfast.” He sighed, lightly biting down on a slice of toast. It would’ve probably tasted good on any other day, but this morning, he just really didn’t have an appetite and the lump of toast felt painful in his throat as he struggled to swallow it. So abandoning the main dish, he turned his attention to the orange juice, watching the liquid sparkle as he swirled it around. “If I eat in the morning, it makes me late for school.”

                “I see.” And she did. Surprisingly it was true. Despite never doing anything in class, always horsing around, and spending most of his time folding paper airplanes, Monokuma was never late. And he had never missed a single day of school for the past three years of high school—impressive to say the least considering even she had mornings where she struggled to muster up the motivation to crawl out of bed. “But breakfast is really important. If you would wake up earlier…”

                “Don’t feel like it, upupupupu…” He allowed the soft laughter to trail off as he took a sip of juice. “Monomi…What medication is in my system right now?”

                “Medication? What?” She broke off with a confused expression which quickly shifted to understanding. “You took some of my Dad’s blood thinners last night…So don’t so anything stupid in the next 2-4 days or you might reopen your wounds.”

                “2-4 days…” Chewing his lip in thought, he gulped down half the glass of juice before abruptly shifting the topic. “Soooo…where are your siblings? Did your parents take them on the trip?”

                “Wha…? I don’t have any siblings. I’m an only child.”

                “You’re not lying to me are you?”

                “Nope. Come to think of it, you were always saying something about me being an awful little sister. Why were you so sure I was one?”

                “I can’t quite put my claw on it…but you just seemed like the type.” He narrowed his eyes, waving one pointer finger in her direction. “Maybe you have some secret older sisters stashed away in the attic or something?”

                “T-That’s clearly impossible!” She lifted her head off the counter briefly to motion toward the ceiling. “We don’t even have an attic!”

                "They say, ‘Impossible is a word that's only found in a fool's dictionary’…Obviously, it's hopeless to try and use a word that's not in your dictionary.”

                “Well then I guess all humans are fools because there are things that are definitely impossible.”

                “Monomi…What do you want to be when you grow up?”

                “What? Well…I think one day I’d like to be a teacher.”

                “Then you’ll definitely have to change the way you think. As an educator, you won’t have the luxury of writing off anything as impossible. Teaching abstract concepts, working hard to ensure understanding, refusing to give up on even the most hopeless of students…If that isn’t challenging the impossible on a daily basis, I don’t know what is! If someone can actually make the impossible possible... You can truly call that person someone who doesn't have the impossible! So maybe, by that logic, instructors are the only people who aren’t fools.”

                “Monokuma…What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

                “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to be a teacher as well.”

                “Pfft, hehehe!” She broke off giggling, only laughing harder at the vexed expression on his face.

                “Is it so unlikely that you think it’s funny?”

                “No…hehehe…I just…hehe…” Swiping a sleeve across her face to dry tears, she met his eyes with a small smile. “You’re just such an awful student, getting into fights almost daily, never doing your homework, arguing with everyone all the time…And yet, against all reason, I somehow think you’d make a great teacher…hehehe.”

                “Your logic makes no sense.” Despite that, he flushed slightly, looking down into his cup.

                “Not everything has to make sense. Like existentialist theories and conspiracies and urban legends. They don’t really have a solid logical basis, but people still love them!”

                “Puhuhu, like the idea that the moon doesn’t exist?”

                “Wh-What? That’s a conspiracy theory now? But that’s so…”

                "Well…You seeeee, our society is filled with various hidden conspiracies that are closer than you might think. People like you and me, how can we know for sure that the moon truly exists at all? Sure we can look at the pictures and videos online, but the moon isn’t something I can reach out and touch with my paws, right? So how can I ever really prove it’s real? That’s why…”

 _What crazy can of worms had she inadvertently opened up by mentioning conspiracies_? He probably wouldn’t stop talking any time soon…But she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to stop. For the first time all morning he was grinning widely, rows of sharp teeth gleaming in the early morning light as he waved his hands around in the air to emphasize the points he made. For the first time all morning, he almost looked like his usual self.

                The realization lifted some unknown weight off her chest, and she yawned, drowsily resting her head on the table as he rambled on and on and on about various conspiracy theories linked with the government and the planet as a whole. Occasionally, she made small comments when he paused for her input, but at some point during the conversation, the lack of sleep caught up to her, and she fell into a dreamless slumber.

 

                When she woke up, the house was empty.

                Rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes, she blearily fixed her hair in the mirror, washing her face and rubbing at the red mark on her cheek from where the table cloth had left an imprint. A short but thorough walk through the house confirmed that she was indeed alone. Breakfast plates had been neatly washed and set in the drying rack, leftovers stowed away in the fridge.

                The only sign he had been there at all was a small post it note stuck to the surface of the kitchen counter. Deciphering the messily scrawled message wasn’t easy, but she eventually worked out that it said something along the lines of ‘I borrowed some money for a taxi. I’ll pay you back later.’ While it was honestly a little vexing that he’d rummaged through her wallet without permission, it was better than the alternative. Just thinking about him attempting to limp stubbornly across town in that condition made her stomach churn…

                *Bzzzt, Bzzzt* Phone vibrations in her pocket startled her from her thoughts, and she quickly pulled the device up to her ear after scanning the caller ID.

                “Hey Mom, what’s up?”

                “Sorry honey, just calling to let you know we won’t be getting back tomorrow as we planned. Something came up, and we’re going to have to stay long into next week. Will you be okay by yourself? We still have plenty of food right? You haven’t burned the house down?”

                “That’s okay, I’ll be fine *cough* We still have all the stuff in the pantry, and I haven’t used the stove at all.”

                “Don’t hesitate to visit the neighbors if you need anything okay? Is school going well?”

                “Yeah, we have a lot of English reading this weekend *cough* but I already started on it.”

                “That’s good. Monomi…are you getting sick? Your voice is really raspy.”

                “No…I just read a book passage out loud, I’m fine Mom, promise.”

                “Okay, I have to go. Stay safe honey! If you need medicine, there are cough syrup and fever reducers in the cabinet; you know where to find them. Love you!”

                “Bye Mom.”

                Tucking the phone into its charging port on the wall, she hummed, turning her attention to the small mountain of homework she had to wrestle with. Just as she had expected, by the end of the day, her voice had mostly disappeared into a hoarse whisper, so it was a good thing she didn’t have any events or activities planned. The rest of the weekend passed without much incident, and before she knew it, Monday returned along with her voice.

 ~.o.~

                He wasn’t at school first hour, or second hour, or third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth.

                He didn’t attend class for the rest of the week.

                Although she did her best to throw herself into school work, it just so happened that this week was the beginning of a new trimester…meaning there honestly wasn’t too much going on in any of her classes. _Just_. _Great_. By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, and she was called into the teacher’s lounge, she was a fidgety ball of energy despite her best efforts to put it out of her head.

                He wasn’t exactly nice to her, and honestly, she barely knew him, but the sole fact that he was missing school was so out of character, it apparently even had the teachers worried.

                “Monomi, since you’re the student affairs officer for your class, would you mind bringing him the work he’s missed?” The homeroom teacher shot her an apologetic look as she held out a thick stack of papers. “I’ve tried calling the phone numbers on his record, but the ones which didn’t return as wrong numbers went straight to voicemail.

                “I don’t mind at all, Teacher.”

                She said that but…As soon as she started in the direction of the address, doubts immediately started springing up in her head. _He lived across from the river right?_ She wasn’t familiar with that side of town at all… _What was over there again? Was it the gang territories?_ _Maybe…_ It wouldn’t be farfetched at all to think he lived in one of the shady parts of town, especially with the way he dressed. _Oh man…What if someone attacked her?_ With her neon pink wind breaker and backpack and school uniform, she probably looked like easy prey.

                _Did she have any weapons on her?_ Nothing but this stack of paper, the thick math textbook in her backpack, and the metal house key on her lanyard. _I mean…If I shove this key into someone’s arm really hard, it miiiggght pierce skin…What if I just—_

                She broke off in stunned silence as she looked up at the tall building. _No. Way_. The address on the outside matched the one marked on her slip of paper… _Holy…What the…_

                Taking a deep breath, she braced herself before walking into the glimmering hotel lobby. Crystal chandeliers sparkled in the light, casting rainbow reflections upon the spotless floor tiles. Elaborate murals of painted dragons decorated the walls and ceiling as groups of business men in suits rushed across the entrance hall.

 _52 nd floor…52nd floor…_ Skittering around to avoid stumbling into the path of anyone in a hurry (which seemed to be everyone), she took one look at the long elevator lines and made a break for the stairs. _Great…52 flights of stairs…Well…She was saying she needed to work out…At least this would give her time to think…_

                There was no way this was anything other than a 5 star hotel. No point in skirting around it. It had to be incredibly expensive to stay one night, let alone *live* here for three years. Unless it was just a temporary living space? Nope, there were no residential districts beside this one anywhere close by. ‘Across from the river’ He had said so nonchalantly and instinctively. He had to have lived here for a while at least.

                Now she remembered why she never visited this part of town. It was the rich part of town. And not just like ‘fancy tourist staying on a trip for a couple of days’ type of rich. No, it was the ‘corporate CEO discussing important business deals,’ ‘penthouse suite on the top floor for millionaires sort of rich. All the skyscrapers in this area were arranged in some elaborate pattern which allowed almost every room to have an unobstructed view of the city skyline.

                If he lived *here* why was he attending some random, run down, mediocre middle class high school halfway across town? He could most definitely afford to attend the several top-notch private academies in this area, and something told her his test scores were not the issue.

 _Oh Heavens._ She panted, taking a small break to lean against the stair railing. It felt as if she had been running up flights of stairs forever. _Which floor was she on? 24?!_ _At this rate she might be stuck here all day…_

 

                By the time she staggered to his door, and double checked the smudged piece of paper in her hand before knocking, she was an exhausted, sweaty mess. _That. Was a mistake…Huff…Deeeefinitely taking the elevator on the way down…_

                No response.

                She glanced tiredly at the ‘Do not Disturb’ sign hanging from his doorknob and tried again once she’d caught her breath enough to speak. *knock, knock*

                Nothing.

                *Knock, knock*

                “Hey Monokuma? It’s me, Monomi! Please answer!”

                The door didn’t open, but a moment later, she heard his familiar voice through the thick wood. “Why are you here?”

                “Teacher told me to bring you the work you missed. Are you…going to open the door?”

                “…No…You can just leave it outside, I’ll pick it up later.”

                “M-Monokuma…All the teachers are worried about you.”

                “I’m fine!”

                “You don’t sound fine at all! You sound awful. Like you haven’t slept in five days!”

                “Well maybe I haven’t!”

                “WHAT?!” A passerby in a suit shot her a nasty glare as he walked past, and she lowered her voice, leaning against Monokuma's door to speak more quietly. “You really…haven’t slept in five days?”

                “More like six and a half, but yeah…”

                “…Why?”

                “…You should leave Monomi. They ordered you to come here right? Just drop off the papers and go.”

                “No! I’ve been worried sick all week because of you, stupidface!  So, no! I-I am not leaving until you take these assignments out of my hands yourself!”

                “Jeez…Fine I’ll take them with my own grubby claws…” A muffled thumping noise echoed from the room as he slid down to sit on the carpet, leaning against the inside of the door. A moment later, three pale fingers poked out from under the still-locked barrier between them, wiggling to catch her attention. “Just slide the papers under the door and I’ll grab them.”

                “That is *not* what I meant, and you know it.”

                “As a future teacher, you’ll need to compromise. So consider this your training.”

 _Well…This was probably the best she’d get out of him_. Sighing heavily, she plopped down on the plush hallway carpet and slowly began feeding individual worksheets one by one through the small space. “If you were timing out the medicine, it should already be out of your system.”

                “I was…but then I realized…If I didn’t sleep, I wouldn’t have to…dream…” His voice sounded so, so tired as it rasped softly through the door between them. She could almost imagine the dark circles under his eyes, accented by mottled bruises.

                “I wouldn’t have minded waking you up…You could’ve slept in the guest room for a few more days. I’m sure my parents wouldn’t care.”

                “…”

                “Why…don’t you ask your parents to wake you up whenever it happens?”

                “Well…I live alone.”

                “Alone? Already? But you’re only in high school.”

                “A few years ago my mother decided she couldn’t bear me acting up anymore and sent me away to live here. She thinks if she surrounds me with this damn bougie stuff that I’ll dump the cotton out of my head and agree to transfer schools to some elitist academy…Yeah right.”

                “You don’t want to go to one?”

                “More like I dropped out of one. That’s why I transferred schools third trimester of freshman year. First trimester: flawless grades. It was easy. It was too easy. Second trimester: I just stopped doing anything. I couldn’t tell ya why…I just flunked…Never before had she looked at me with such disappointment. And it felt good. Maybe I just wanted to fail expectations…To bring her despair…Puhuhu…”

                “One trimester of bad grades? That’s no reason to abandon a kid!”

                “I guess this cub was just too much of a burden.” His voice spiked in a dry, bitter laugh before breaking into a short coughing fit.

                “You’re worried…about being a burden?”

                Silence.

                “Well let me tell you this. You’re being way more of a burden by hiding away like this! Yeah hearing your story was sad…it made my chest hurt…a lot, and that night? You made my heart almost thump out of my throat from fear…But sharing a burden with someone else, it’s a special ability only humans have you know? You could almost say it’s a miracle.” As he reached through to grab another piece of paper, she gently set her finger tips on his, freezing him in his tracks. “Just like me and everyone else, you’re human. So…Please, ask someone when you need help Monokuma…Don't lock yourself away.”

                He didn’t respond, but he made no move to pull away his fingers either. So they sat like that for a while—him leaning against one side of the door with his eyes closed, head tilted up toward the ceiling, and her sitting cross-legged in the hallway, pressing a cheek to the other side of the door in quiet contemplation.

                At least an inch of thick wood separated them, and they were only connected by the slightest warmth transferring between slivers of skin contact…But maybe that was enough.

                “…Monomi…Would…Would you mind if I came over later? I’m…tired.”

                “Not at all, you’re welcome any time…If you want to visit.”

                “I do.”

                “Hehe……hehehe…hehehahahaha,” She pulled her hand off his, bringing it to her mouth in a futile attempt to muffle clear peals of laughter which rang through the halls, bounding off elaborate wall sconces before absorbing into thick carpet. “Ahahahaha…haha…”

                “Monomi…It’s not good to lie, you know…” His voice dipped dangerously low in response to her giggling, and she quickly pulled herself together to explain.

                “No…hehe…I wasn’t lying. I-I’m just laughing because I’m relieved. Hehehe…I thought you hated me for the longest time!”

                 “What?” His sounded genuinely startled as his eyes flickered open to stare at the ceiling for answers.

                “Yup! I never understood why, but it seems like you had some deep-set grudge against me. You always tease me and pull my hair, but it’s okay, if I did something wrong in the past, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. We can start on a new slate from today on. Let’s be friends okay, Monokuma?”

                “I…I never hated you…”

                “Really? Then why did you always pick on me?”

                “I-Isn’t that what big brothers do?”

                “W-What?”

                “Y’know…When they interact with their little sisters?”

                “…Do you have any little sisters, Monokuma?”

                “No, I’m an only child actually.”

                “Okaaaay…Because that is *not* how big brothers should act.” She sighed with slowly dawning understanding as she picked at carpet strands beneath her fingers. “It actually really hurts when you pull hair because scalps are sensitive.”

                “…Sorry…I guess I don’t have too much experience in the field.”

                “Don’t go out of your way to tease me. You should just treat me like any other friend.” She exhaled, pushing the final assignment through the crack before standing up and dusting off her skirt. “That’s the last one. I have to go, Monokuma, or I’ll miss my bus home, but feel free to come over any time! …Just act the way you always do, it’s okay!”

                _Great._ Before she even walked two steps toward the elevator, regret hit her like a wave. She had just told a delinquent to ‘act as he always did’ when interacting with her. The same delinquent who randomly unfurled six inch blades in the middle of World History because he was feeling bored with a lesson. The same delinquent who had a personal mission to strike matches against every possible surface in the Chemistry room (including gas pipes and PAPER posters on the wall which sparked *multiple* fires). The same delinquent who had several restraining orders on him because of his fantastic, completely socially acceptable habit of making gruesomely detailed death threats to random girls in the hallway… _Choosing those particular words to say to him was probably a mistake… Well…at least the next few visits wouldn’t be boring…_

~.o.~

                Rustling a fluffy towel through her damp hair, she plopped down in the chair at her desk with an exhausted sigh. _Friday. Thank goodness it was Friday._ By the time she’d returned home, it was almost 6:00 pm, meaning she spent several hours more than she’d wanted to at his apartment building (at least a few of those had probably been wasted on her long stair climb). As tired as she was, it was a good idea to get a couple of the weekend assignments done before tomorrow, just to stay on track.

                Leaning over to flip on the desk lamp to illuminate the workspace, her eyes flickered tiredly over her laptop, the pile of workbooks stacked in a teetering pile, several pencil cups jammed with a haphazard array of office supplies, the dark shadow in her window, the open backpack on her bed— _Wait._ Slowly she turned back to her window and screamed, dropping the towel in her hand as her eyes widened in shock.

                *Tap, Tap* The dark figure rapped the window lightly, and recovering enough to breathe again, she quickly crossed the room, yanking open the glass. “Wh-What are you doing here?!”

                “You said I could come over later.” Sharp teeth glinted in the lowlight, emphasizing his lazy, lopsided grin as he balanced on the thin ledge.

                “By later I thought you meant like tomorrow! It’s already 10:00 pm! And by come over, I thought you meant through the front door! How did you even get up here?! My window’s on the second floor!”

                “Tree.” He nonchalantly flicked a thumb toward the large maple tree growing out of the front lawn as if that was the most normal answer in the world.

                “Wh-What?! The closest branch is several feet away! Don’t tell me you jumped?! Wait…No, I actually don’t want an answer to that. Why wouldn’t you ring the doorbell like a normal person?!”

                “So…are you gonna let me come in? Or…” He made a slight teetering motion, and she quickly yanked him inside slamming the window closed behind him.

                “That was dangerous! What do you think you are? A super hero?!”

                “Pssh, if I had super powers, I’d be more of a super villan. Superheroes live to stop people from achieving their hopes and dreams, y'know? They immediately attack people in groups because they don't' have many friends themselves, y'know? They're all short-tempered and say stuff like, "Now I'm mad!" and "I won't forgive you!" and laugh, y'know? And they like to wear flashy costumes, y'know? They don’t even need to think, anything they do is considered justice, and they have enough plot armor to win no matter what.” He whistled, perching himself on the top of her desk as he scanned the bedroom. “Which means they're all a bunch of smart, good-looking, violent, stubborn elitists who don't have many friends. Admiring people like that…Is something I never want to do.”

                “Stop avoiding the issue!” She huffed, looking over his thick outfit—long jeans and a black hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head, obscuring most of his face. He was clearly sweating under all the clothing which was no surprise since it was late autumn…super hot outside even in the evenings. He straight up looked like some kind of robber. It was honestly a miracle someone hadn’t called the police or neighborhood watch. “Why didn’t you use the front door? And more importantly, why are you here so late?”

                “I didn’t want to startle your parents. And it’s not my fault, I wanted to get here sooner, but I totally underestimated the time it’d take to bike over.”

                “My parents are still on their business trip…And if they were home, it would be way sketchier if they caught you sneaking into my bedroom window.” She sighed, leaning over to pick up the towel off the ground before the second portion of his statement hit her, and she dropped it again. “Wait. You *biked* here?! It’s like a two hour bike ride from where you live. And you’re wearing a ton of layers! Are you crazy?!”

                “I’ve been told I am. Never been clinically tested though!” He grinned, kicking his legs in the air and watching her pace around the room. “Plus, I had to wear this hoodie, otherwise I look like some kind of criminal with all the bruises on my face.”

                “Well you *actually* look like a criminal wearing that! Huff…Well, you can take it off now if you want, since you’re inside. Wait here, I’ll go get you some water.”

 

                The water bottle in her hand promptly dropped out of her hand as soon as she returned to the bedroom, and he watched it bounce across the carpet before crossing the room to pick it up.

                “You sure are clumsy today, Monomi. Like some kind of anime character or something.”

                “Monokuma…What are you wearing?” Rubbing a hand along the bridge of her nose, she gestured toward the strangely tattered band t-shirt draped across his tall frame which exposed so much skin she could barely classify it as a shirt. "You're like…half naked."

                “Hey! This is my favorite shirt!” He pouted, crossing his arms, “And your clothes aren’t any better. Why is everything you wear pink? That’s so lame, you don’t even have an ounce of fashion sense!”

                _At least my clothes actually cover me!_ The retort died on her lips as she surveyed the state of his body more closely. Although the landscape of bruises across his face was beginning to fade, leaving his skin in an odd mottled state and the swelling around his left eye had disappeared completely, it was clear that he had not been taking care of himself from the shabby state of the bandages around his arms, the greasy shine of hair matted to his face, and the dark shadows under his eyes. “Monokuma, have you taken a shower since the last time you were here?”

                “…Yess…”

                “That’s a lie, isn’t it?”

                “Hey! The only lies I tell are friendly lies! Plus, it’s not my fault…I didn’t want to reopen the scratches.” He gestured toward his arms. “And you wrapped them so well…”

                “No way…You haven’t changed those bandages at all? Not even once?!”

                “I don’t have bandages at home…” The protest trailed away as she angrily motioned him toward the hallway bathroom, and he followed, leaning casually against the wall as she started a bath.

                “Ugh…That’s such a major no-no! What if they get infected? Now that it’s been on so long, the gauze probably won’t come off without a long soak!” Pulling the first aid kit out of the medicine cabinet and setting it on the sink counter, she gestured toward the warm, steaming water. “After you manage to remove the bandages, you can rewrap yourself in fresh ones from the first aid kit. I’ll find you a change of clothes.”

                He almost snickered, making a remark on her childish speech tendencies, but something about the fierce expression on her face ripped the words from his throat. “If you wouldn’t mind…could you find something with long sleeves?”

                “Of course.” Her eyes softened as she stepped out of the bathroom, and he locked the door behind her.

 

                She blinked as a curtain of black and white hair flipped over her eyes, obscuring the math textbook she had been poring over a couple of moments earlier. Because it was usually tied back into a small ponytail and his bangs framed his face, it always surprised her a little to see how long his hair actually was—a couple centimeters past shoulder length.

                “What’cha dooooing?”

                “Math homework.”

                “Doesn’t it get unbearably boring?” He lightly hoisted himself up onto her desk, watching with slight amusement as she nibbled the end of her pencil in thought. “Wouldn’t you rather go on a murder spree with me? We can execute a bunch of people or something! By the way, the answer to that problem is x= 1 and -1.”

                “Wha- How did you…”

                “You have to use the ‘completing the square' technique.”

                “That’s not what the book says…”

                “This method is faster and more efficient on the problem.”

                “Woah…It actually worked…”

                “See? Told ya.” He lifted a hand up to examine his nails. “So, now that I helped you, wanna go kill some people?”

                “Monokuma! Casually suggesting murder is not okay!”

                “We don’t have to kill anyone you know. If we go downtown, you'll be surrounded by strangers, neither allies nor friends. No need to worry about them. And if you’re really into justice, I’ve been meaning to test out new execution techniques on criminals…”

                “Killing is a huge no-no!” She looked up from her notebook to give him a disapproving frown. “Where is all this coming from?”

                “Well…You told me I should just act normally around you right? So I am. This is how I talk with friends.” He grinned, flashing sharp teeth as he swirled a pencil around in the air. “I was really holding back since big brothers aren’t supposed to expose their siblings to violence, but apparently it’s okay!”

                “Th-That’s not what I was trying to say!” Moaning, she pressed her face into her hands in exasperation.

                Honestly though, this was something she could handle. The thought of violence made her stomach churn, but knowing full well that he was just exaggerating quickly eased her mind. He didn’t have any actual criminal record, she knew he liked reading manga, and the plot he just described sounded almost exactly like one from a certain story involving a notebook which could kill people… In comparison to him physically yanking her hair and pinching her cheeks, the mini adrenaline rushes his exaggerated, violent suggestions gave her were nothing she couldn’t deal with.

                But talking like this…She could see how he easily made so many enemies.

                Changing the topic, she attempted to steer it away from crimes in general, holding up a math worksheet in the air. “You want to be a teacher, right? So teach me this concept.”

                “Don’t want to…” He sighed, nevertheless hoping off the desk and motioning her to sit on the carpet beside him. “Start by writing out the generic equations. Right…This problem requires the area formula for a cone, and you’ll have to find the derivative to calculate the change in area…”

                “I see…If I just plug this variable in…” With his help, she managed to work her way through the first few problems without much distress _. Without much distress? In math? Her worst subject?_ Despite everything…he honestly wasn’t a bad teacher.

                “Jeez, explaining the concepts all the time reaaaaally breaks my claws...”

                “You don’t have claws.” She frowned, furrowing her brows at the next question on the sheet.

                “Sometimes I wish I did. Reaching over and tearing the carotid arteries out of someone’s throat…That would make a great punishment for naughty girls and boys, don’tcha think?”

                “I take it back; you’d be an awful teacher.”

                “Boo-hoo-hoo! My grief is piling up like freshly fallen snow!”

                “Gh…Monokumaaaa, you’ll be put on death row if you actually kill a student!”

                “If I die, I’m taking you with me, Monomi. I'll crunch ya! I'll bite ya! I'll rip you apart!" Gnashing sharp teeth together in an exaggerated pantomime of anger, he leaned forward, grinning widely. “Or maybe torture would be better? Which would you prefer? I could cut your Achilles tendons, paralyze you from the waist down, mayyyyybe give ya an icepick lobotomy?”

                “How do you remember a map of all the weak points of the human body, yet somehow don’t remember the capital of Hungary?”

                “I do, it’s Budapest.”

                “Then why did you say ‘Snickers’ when the teacher asked you last week?”

                “Meh, didn’t feel like answering.” He smirked, leaning over her shoulder to point out her several mistakes with the tip of a red pen. “How are you this bad at related rates? This is like part of the middle school curriculum.”

                “It is not!” She huffed, brushing his hair out of her face so she could see more clearly. “And it's really hard to understand! Would you mind tying up your hair?”

                “I don’t have a hair tie—Oh, thanks. So even your hair ties are pink... What? Do you shop in the kid’s section or something?” Reaching up to gather hair into a bundle, he hissed in discomfort, automatically dropping his arms back down. “Ssss…Monomi, are you sure those bandages were good? They’re kinda painful…”

                “Painful?” She frowned, setting down her pencil to turn to him with concern. “How did you wrap them?”

                He slowly rolled up his sleeve to display his arm, and she instinctively flinched back, eyes widening in disbelief. “You *just* applied the roller bandages?! Without any gauze?! Monokuma! Those are dressings! They’re meant to be applied *over* gauze which is the absorbent stuff. This kind of dressing…since it’s made to go over stuff, it’s not sterile!” Red stains were beginning to spread to parts of the tightly wrapped dressing which he had *somehow* managed to wrap so poorly that several sections had become rolled together, constricting tightly enough around his arm that they reopened previously closed wounds.

                Rushing to grab the first aid kit and a pair of scissors, she settled down on the carpet next to him, instructing him to remain still as she sanitized the scissors in rubbing alcohol before using them to cut away the bandages around his arm. Ignoring the curse words he groaned under his breath as the knuckles of his hands whitened, she quickly dabbed disinfectant across the scratches before opening a packet of fresh gauze and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Without blood thinners hindering the body’s natural ability to clot, it didn’t take long for the oozing to cease, and when it had, she carefully covered the remaining scratches with sterile gauze before rewrapping his arm.

                At her unspoken question, he bit his lip and slowly lowered himself to lay face up on the carpet, covering his eyes with his left arm as she repeated the same process on the scratches of his right limb. It went a little faster that time, and her hands gradually grew more steady as the initial shock died away.

                “Your legs…May I?”

                “…Y-Yeah.”

                His body automatically tensed as she moved lower to start rolling up one pant leg, and she should’ve noticed the earning warning sign, but she was much too focused on his wounds.

                Although most of the scratches from last Friday had closed, the skin around them puckering around cracking lines of scabs, there were definitely a couple of newer, fresher sets she could clearly distinguish from their raw, angry coloration. They were only a couple days old, likely from the last time he’d tried to sleep. Thankfully, the more recent ones seemed much shallower in comparison, but they still posed an infection risk.

                Lifting the rolled fabric loosely over his leg, the side of her hand accidentally brushed against the flesh of his thigh, and she barely had the chance to blink before his knee jerked up suddenly, smashing her in the face.

                “Gah!”

                “Ah…Sorry…” She flinched back, cupping both hands around her nose and groaning at the familiar rush of warmth as it started to bleed. Thankfully, the bathroom sink wasn’t too far away, and she managed to make it without dripping blood everywhere.

                Glancing up briefly at her reflection in the mirror, she sighed tiredly. A nosebleed. In the bathroom. At night. _Wow…wasn’t this familiar?_

                After eventually halting the flow of blood and cleaning up the sink, she wandered to the freezer to grab an ice pack for the quickly darkening bruise on her face. _Again. Familiar._

                _Since she was in the kitchen anyways…Maybe he’d like something warm to drink?_ Mom used to make her steamed milk before bed when she was little, but Monokuma would probably say that milk was childish, so she settled for chamomile tea. Tea wasn’t really her thing, but it was simple enough to follow the brewing instructions she searched up on her phone…And best of all, she didn’t even need to use the stove to heat anything up, just water from the electric kettle.

 

                By the time she returned to the bedroom balancing a small tray of tea, he was sitting on the ground beside her bed, leaning lazily against the bed frame as his eyes slowly wandered the room.

                “It…was an accident.”

                “I know. …Your legs?”

                “…Now isn’t a good time.”

                “That's okay…I can teach you how to do it yourself later.” She hummed, setting down the tray on her desk, handing him a teacup, and plopping down on the ground a couple feet away. “It’s chamomile…apparently it’s good for sleep.”

                “C’mon, what am I? An old lady?” He shot her a teasing smirk before taking a small sip.

                “Well if you want milk, I can make that instead.”

                “Milk? That’s so lame, how old are you again? Three?”

                “We’re the same age!”

                “Jeez, well maybe you do still need to drink milk…I mean look at how short you are.”

                “I’ll have you know that five foot four is a pretty average height for a girl! I am not short!”

                “Content with being average? That’s the kind of attitude which gets you a spot in this city’s food chain…” He trailed off distractedly, running a thumb over the uneven golden lines in the teacup’s handle. “Did you do this?”

                “Hmm? Oh, the kintsugi? Yeah. Normally we don’t eat or drink out of pieces I repair, just because they’re not always food-safe. But since only the handle broke on that teacup, it’s totally fine.”

                “Why didn’t you throw it away?” He chuckled lightly at the confused incline of her head. “It was broken right? Broken things belong in the garbage.”

                “That’s just what a rich person would say.” She leaned forward to tap on the handle of his teacup. “Sure it’s not ‘repaired’…Once something breaks, it can never return to the way it was before. Once something breaks, it becomes something different. But that’s okay.”

                “Does that apply to humans?”

                “Of course!”

                “Bzzt-bzzt! Wrong! The only way to recycle a human life is to die and be reborn!”

                “I wouldn’t really say it’s about recycling…more like changing to something stronger than the original.”

                “You know…I think we’re on completely different levels, Monomi…… It's like a character from a punk manga challenging an enemy from a superpowered battle manga. Puhuhu, it's obvious your logic can’t win.”

                “What if, instead of being from a punk manga, I was from a magical girl manga? Would I have a shot?” She giggled, pulling out her phone to scroll through her picture gallery. “See…when I was little I had this magical girl phase where I used to dress up and dash around the neighborhood. I called myself Magical Miracle Girl ★ Usami, the defender of love and peace!”

                “Looking at that picture is giving me second-hand embarrassment…” He groaned softly, gulping down the rest of his tea before setting the empty cup back on her desk. “Aren’t you ashamed to show me that?”

                “Maybe a couple of years ago…But now enough time’s passed that it’s kinda funny looking back. And who knows…maybe I still have the wand off of that outfit?”

                “No way…”

                “Way.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him before flinging open her closet door and rummaging around only to return shortly with a colorful plastic scepter.

                “You still put batteries in this thing?!” He flinched with surprise as the toy lit up with rainbow lights, spewing loud cheery music through the air.

                “It’s honestly a miracle that it still works after all these years.” She smiled, switching it off and setting it back in the closet. “You know, I dedicated a minute of my prayers every night when I was younger to begging for super powers…hehe…I really wanted to fulfill people’s wishes.”  

                “Magical girls have the power to grant wishes?”

                “Yeah. Or at least, I pretended that I could. Ah…nostalgia.”

                “ _…_ …Would you grant my wish?”

                “You know I’m not really a magical girl right? Hehe, but of course, I’ll hear you out.” She swallowed the rest of her tea, setting down the cup on its coaster before casually turning toward him—and promptly freezing at the serious, beseeching expression on his face. “I’m…listening…”

                “Monomi…Can you…Can you fix me?”

                Slight cracking in his quiet voice paired with the pleading wobble in his dark eyes instantly wiped the small frozen smile off her face.

                “No. I can’t……I-I’m sorry…” Her response was a hoarse whisper, but it sounded so loud in the pounding, suffocating silence.

                “I know…” Irises seemed to glaze over, blurring the lines in brown lenses as he dropped his gaze to the carpet, messy bangs falling over his eyes.

                The quiet ticking of the small clock mounted on her wall grew into a roar.

                _Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

 

                His shoulders trembled slightly, rising up and down in minute increments which rustled his unkempt hair.

                The room which had been quiet before was, all of a sudden, no longer quiet.

                She couldn’t hear the chiming of the clock anymore.

                Something dropped off his face, falling into the carpet. Then another. Then another.

                Drip.

                Drop.

                Drip.

                Drop.

                _Ah._ She blinked, weakly collapsing to her knees in realization. _Crying. He was crying._

_Him._

_Crying._

                _It hurt._ It hurt so much seeing him like this. She wanted to reach forward, do something. Speak up, say something…Say anything to get him to stop.

                But she couldn’t.

                She couldn’t.

                Arms and hands were frozen stiff to her sides, resting uselessly on the ground as she struggled to move them. _Move. Move. Please._

                Nothing.

                She opened her mouth to speak, but someone may as well have reached down her throat and plucked out her vocal chords, for not a single word formed out of the river of sentences crashing together in her head. _If she could. If she could speak right now, what would she say? What *could* she say?_ In spite of the rumbling thunderclouds of chaotic thoughts running through her mind, she couldn’t think of anything.

                Zero.

                Nix.

                Diddly.

                Zilch.

                All she could do was watch…Watch as he slowly fell apart, crumbling in front of her as heartbreaking sobs wrenched themselves from his mouth. His twitching fingers clutched desperately at the fibers of the carpet as if hopelessly grasping at something. Anything.

                _It hurt. It hurt to breathe._ She swallowed thickly against the weight in her throat as her vision blurred, sending the room spinning and warping in her mind.

                "Heheheh… How terrible of me to cry right now…Ugh…So terrible…” _She wasn’t supposed to be doing this. How could she? She didn’t deserve to be crying right now. At a time like this? When he was hurting? When he was hurting so badly?_

                She bit her trembling lip hard enough to draw blood, frantically swiping at the tears which tumbled from her eyes…but it was no use.

                Her grief-stricken sobs joined his as she crumpled to the carpet, their intermingling voices filling the house and the night with sorrowful wailing.

~.o.~

                “Monomi? We’re home!~”

                “Shhhh, she’s probably sleeping already.”

                They gently pushed open the wooden door to her bedroom only to freeze in shock at the sight of an empty bed and two high schoolers sprawled out upon the carpet, side-by-side, clearly asleep.

                “Wh-What the hell?!”

                “Shhhh, Honey…It’s really late right now, don’t wake them up.”

                Gently padding into the room, they surveyed the strange scene with worried eyes, speaking in hushed whispers. It must have been a bizarre sight, to say the least.

                The mother frowned slightly in disapproval as she scanned over the bruised and battered, wild-haired boy, who she’d never seen before, sleeping beside her little girl.

                The father relaxed slightly as he took in the open first aid kit on her bed, the empty tea cups on her desk, and open study materials which had been forgotten halfway through the night. “Honey, it’s alright. I’m sure it’s not anything serious. She can explain in the morning.”

                “Nothing serious?! He looks like some sort of gangbanger! Look at his hair! It’s almost as long as mine!”

                “Shhh…He’s probably just a classmate. And look, they both have their clothes on.” He smiled softly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You know…Our little girl isn’t so little anymore…She’s almost old enough to leave the house. Trust her a bit, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

                Letting out a deep exhale, the mother reluctantly nodded and retrieved a large blanket from the linen closet in the hallway. Giving the two children one last look before covering their slumbering forms, she couldn’t help but allow the corner of her mouth to twitch upward into a small smirk of amusement. “Youngsters these days.”

                Their faces were so close that their foreheads were almost touching. His hands loosely held onto bunches of her pajama shirt, and the fingertips of her left hand settled lightly on his arm. Invisible trails of dried tears on their cheeks were the only unseen indicators of something ever being amiss. With his hair splayed out in a wild, messy halo, and hers flopping over her face to rustle in time with her soft breathing, taking a nap on the bedroom carpet almost seemed like the most normal thing…just another peaceful night.

                Outside, crickets hummed brightly, sending small bursts of song into the lazy summer air. But inside the house, not a creature stirred from its restful slumber. Not for a nightmare. Not for a dream. It was almost as if time had paused to give a brief moment of quiet, merciful respite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -You know…Sometimes crying a little can be a good thing. This is the first time I’ve ever written a story like this, but I hope it was a nice reading experience.  
> -There is 1 more scene I kinda want to write for this fic, but Idk if it’s long enough to write a whole ‘nother chapter… I’ll think about it.


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